CIULEANDRA Romanian
PRONUNCIATION:	choo-LEHN-drah
TRANSLATION:	Ciulin in Romanian means thistle or tumbleweed, so ciuleandra means something like "the tumble weed dance," possibly derived from the increase in tempo toward the the end of the music.
SOURCE:	Mihai David learned this version of Ciuleandra during 1963-65 while dancing with the Romanian State Folk Dance Ensemble during the years 1963 to 1965 and subsequently taught it to folk dancers in Los Angeles, California, in 1971.
BACKGROUND:	The ethnographic region of Oltenia is green and mountainous and has some of southeastern Romania's oldest surviving artifacts, edifices, and folklore, with little Turkish, Russian, or Greek influence.
MUSIC:	The Lark (7"EP) FLDR-A Monitor (LP) MF 439 Electrecord (LP) EPD 103
FORMATION:	Open cir of mixed M and W with hands on neighbors' shldrs in "T" pos, end dancers may have hands on hips, leader at R.
METER/RHYTHM:	4/4. The music gradualy increases in tempo.
STEPS/STYLE:	As the tempo increases in Fig I, the size of the steps become smaller. Dancers should avoid looking from side to side during meas 1-2 of Fig I.
MEAS	MOVEMENT DESCRIPTION
	INTRODUCTION
1-8	No action, although dancers sometimes sway slightly from ft to ft.
I.	SWAY, FWD, GRAPEVINE
1	Step R swd, leaving L in place and bending knees with wt completely over R (ct 1); leaving L in place, raise on ball of R while straightening L knee (ct &); lower R heel, bending R knee slightly (ct 2); raise on ball of R as wt begins to shift to L (ct &); shift wt to L, leaving R in place and bending knees with wt completely over L (ct 3); raise on ball of L while straightening R knee (ct &); lower L heel and bend L knee slightly (ct 4); raise on ball of L as wt begins to shift to R (ct &).
2	Repeat action of meas 1.
3	Step slightly diag fwd to R on R heel (ct 1); close L to R, bending knees slightly and taking wt onto full R ft (ct 2); step slightly diag fwd to L on L heel (ct 3); close R to L, bending knees slightly and taking wt onto full L ft (ct 4);
4	Step R swd (ct 1); raise L leg fwd with L knee bent and L ft relaxed (ct 2); facing slightly diag L, step to L on L heel (ct 3); stamp R next to L lightly without wt (ct 4).
	Dancers may join in with the vocalist during meas 4 with "HOHP shah-SHAH shah-SHAH."
5	Step R across in front of L (ct 1); step L swd (ct 2); step R in back of L (ct 3); step L to L (ct 4);
6-7	Repeat action of meas 5 two more times;
8	Step R across in front of L (ct 1) step L swd (ct 2); close R to L without wt (ct 3); pause (ct 4).
9-56	Repeat action of meas 1-8 six more times as the music increases in tempo.
II.	TRAVEL SWD WITH STAMPS
1-2	Step R swd (ct 1); step L in back of R (ct 2); repeat action of cts 1-2 three more times except that on ct 4 of meas 2 stamp L next to R.
3-4	Repeat action of meas 1-2 to L with opp ftwk.
5-8	Rrepeat action of meas 1-4.
9	Small leap R swd (ct 1); stamp L next to R without wt (ct 2); small leap L swd (ct 3); stamp R next to L without wt (ct 4);
10	Step R swd (ct 1); step L in back of R (ct 2); step R swd (ct 3); stamp R next to L (ct 4).
11-12	Repeat action of meas 9-10 to L with opp ftwk.
13-16	Repeat action of meas 9-12.
17-32	Repeat action of meas 1-16.
33-42	Rrepeat action of meas 1-8.
Copyright © 2003 by Dick Oakes